27/10/2025                                                                            
                                    
                                                                            
                                            ๐ง๐จ๐ฃ๐ฉ ๐๐ป๐ฐ๐ผ๐๐ป๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ | Hidden File No. 3
๐ฟ๐๐๐พ๐๐ผ๐๐๐๐: ๐ ๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ๐บ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ด๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐๐๐๐๐ช๐ข๐ฏ๐ด' ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ข๐ญ ๐ฆ๐น๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ.
The night began to creep behind our shoulders as class was dismissed. My classmates were busy packing up, ready to go home, while I was still stuck at my seat, rummaging through my messy bag in search of my flash drive so I could finally save my project and leave.
โNic, are you coming to our dinner?โ I focused my attention on Mae when she suddenly spoke. 
โMy bad, Mae. I need to study later because I need some catching up on my failing subjects,โ I replied. 
She gave me a single smile before nodding her head.
โI understand, girl. Go home safe, okay?โ Mae walked away, her flat shoes tapping lightly on the floor. 
It was me who was left in the roomโall alone. I sat back on my chair and plugged the flash drive into my laptop. As I did it, the lights flickered for a mere second, and a sudden chill clung to me.
I saved the file to my flash drive, turned off my laptop, then packed up and left the room.
The new engineering building is the most isolated place among other classrooms. NEB 8 is at the end of the hallway, almost invisible against the wall. The air around it felt colder, and the silence made it seem like the room behind it was waiting for someone to find it.
Before I could completely step out of the room, I turned off the ceiling fans and the lights, and when I didโI saw someone. I turn the lights on again.
She was wearing the same uniform as I am. I noticed the click of her heels. Black. Shiny. Two inches high. They caught the light and glimmered with every step she took, and somehow, I couldnโt look away.
With trembling hands I switched the lights off before stepping into the hallway, where only the faint flicker of dying bulb lit the silence.
The light flickered. Then darkness.
โGoodness,โ I mumbled. My heart was drumming itself. After some time the lights went on again, this time accompanied by an uneven sound of someone walking in heels.
My steps grew faster, but so did the sound behind meโthe click of heels, it has the rhythm that belongs to no one. Hollow and too seamless.
The echoes changed and I knew it was coming for me.
Fear embodied my system. Cold sweat flooded my skin as I ran, heart pounding, desperate to escape the faceless figure chasing meโhaunting me to my very core.
A shiver of relief ran through me as I passed Room 23โjust a few steps more to the stairs. But the sound behind me didnโt fade. It grew louder. Closer. Each echo crawled up my spine like a cold embrace.
My body surrendered the tension it was holding onto when it spotted the stairs. I ran towards it with my heart screaming yet the noise followedโsurreal, unnerving, and too close. As my fear grew louder, the echoes came louder.
Suddenly, a blinding light hits my face.
โHey, miss. Are you okay?โ It was our school guard.
โYes, Iโm okay.โ Catching my breath. The guard simply nodded and walked me to the gate. 
I walked with the guard calmly, but my heart was beating loudly, making sure I heard every rhythm and missed no beat. As he escorted me, I should have felt safeโbut deep down, I couldnโt shake off the uncanny presence still lingering inside me.
Outside the gate, the echo of someone walking in heels pulled me back into the reality Iโm living with.
Once again, the sound made me remember what happened, the sensation was still here, free-loading in my system.
 โMae?โ I asked.
She did not look at me like she never heard my voice. I followed her from a distance and when she turned the other way. An unspeakable realization hit me.
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Via | Mawlyn Grace Rojas
Illustration | Mikan Miรฑada 
The Philippine Artisan Visayas